Pope Francis Says Root Cause of the Abuse Crisis is Clericalism

On August 20, Pope Francis sent out a letter in regard to the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report which reviewed 70 years of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania dioceses involving 301 priests and over 1000 victims.  You can read the entire papal letter HERE.  Pope Francis makes no excuses for the abuse. He wrote:

With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them. I make my own the words of the then Cardinal Ratzinger when, during the Way of the Cross composed for Good Friday 2005, he identified with the cry of pain of so many victims and exclaimed: “How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to [Christ]! How much pride, how much self-complacency! Christ’s betrayal by his disciples, their unworthy reception of his body and blood, is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it pierces his heart. We can only call to him from the depths of our hearts: Kyrie eleison – Lord, save us! (cf. Mt 8:25)” (Ninth Station).

Many have cried foul at this letter. Some complain that this is just more words and no action.  Other are upset because nowhere did Pope Francis so much as mention the word "homosexuality."  After all, isn't homosexuality at the core of this crisis?

To those who complain about the "lack of action", they are ignoring the fact that Pope Francis is baring the soul of the Church to the world, openly admitting that the Church failed the victims,  "We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them." This is the Church beating her breast, hanging her head in shame and saying "Mea culpa."  This is where all real reform starts.

The Holy Father does not see homosexuality as the cause of the abuse, unlike so many others.  I don't know how many places I have read in the past few days where I am told that homosexuals are sexual predators by nature.  After all, most of the victims were male, and a good portion of them were past puberty.  This was not pedophilia.  This was homosexuality at its ugliest!

Pope Francis tells us what he feels is the real cause of the abuse:

It is impossible to think of a conversion of our activity as a Church that does not include the active participation of all the members of God’s People. Indeed, whenever we have tried to replace, or silence, or ignore, or reduce the People of God to small elites, we end up creating communities, projects, theological approaches, spiritualities and structures without roots, without memory, without faces, without bodies and ultimately, without lives. This is clearly seen in a peculiar way of understanding the Church’s authority, one common in many communities where sexual abuse and the abuse of power and conscience have occurred. Such is the case with clericalism, an approach that “not only nullifies the character of Christians, but also tends to diminish and undervalue the baptismal grace that the Holy Spirit has placed in the heart of our people”. Clericalism, whether fostered by priests themselves or by lay persons, leads to an excision in the ecclesial body that supports and helps to perpetuate many of the evils that we are condemning today. To say “no” to abuse is to say an emphatic “no” to all forms of clericalism.

Clericalism is basically putting a priest on a pedestal and saying he is somehow better than the people he serves.  He has special insights.  He gets special privileges merely because he is a priest.  This was actually explored very well in an article in the National Catholic Reporter shortly after Pope Francis' election.  The article is dated April 4, 2013 [HERE], and shows amazing insight into the actions of Pope Francis.  Entitled, "The New Pope's Real Target: Clericalism", the author, Robert McClory, writes:

I’m beginning to think the many amazing choices Pope Francis has been making in these early days of his pontificate will have an important, long-lasting effect on the church of the 21st century. He is preaching almost daily a powerful, silent sermon denouncing the scourge of clericalism that is at the root of most of the problems bedeviling Catholicism.

It’s the simple way he lives; his decision to move into the visitors’ quarters and eat his meals with them; his lack of interest in pomp and pageantry; his decision to wash the feet of prison inmates (including women) on Holy Thursday; his insistent concern for the poor and the state of planet Earth.

The simplicity adopted by Pope Francis in contrast to his predecessors

There is one amazing statement later made by Pope Francs that is the very antithesis of anti-clericalism.  What is that simple statement?  Something one rarely hears from the clergy:

There is Pope Francis telling us that he is just like us.  He is as capable of falling as we are.  He needs the saving Grace of Jesus Christ just as much as we do.  He is setting the example for all priests and bishops.  If all the clergy truly began to believe this, they would become much harder targets for the devil.

Mr. McClory gives us a comprehensive description of clericalism and how it happens:

For many generations earnest, young male seminarians have been taught that they are aspiring to a higher level not available to the laity, a level at which they will have the authority to teach, sanctify and govern those below. They will carry with them sacred powers that will accompany them even into eternity. For such privileges they promise to become eunuchs for the kingdom, and they pledge to defer their own judgments without reservation to the authoritative pronouncements of those on still higher levels, be it pastor, bishop or pope.

In effect, they become members of a kind of boys club that is warm, supportive and exclusive — and never breaks ranks. For what they give up, they can expect a relatively high standard of living and the respect, even adulation (at least until the abuse scandal hit), of their grateful congregations.

Why did these priests close ranks around each other?  Why did the bishops so willingly cover for them?  Why did the priests not comprehend just how evil their actions were?  Why did they feel they were entitled to use the laity for their own pleasure?  The answer is clericalism.  They actually believed they were special and somehow above the law that governed the common man.   They did not look at themselves as servants of the people.  They were the special ones, and the people were there to serve them.

Pope Francis sees this as the ultimate evil.  And truly it is.  This is the great sin of Satan:  the sin of pride.  The sin of entitlement. When Pope Francis told the priests that they should have the smell of the sheep, that was a call to anti-clericalism.  He was telling his priests that they needed to be one with the laity, treating them with dignity and respect, just as Jesus Christ did.

Mr. McClory writes:

Of course, priests have always been urged to develop an active spiritual life, to nourish virtues like humility and self-sacrifice. And a great number of the clergy do manage to live holy, creative lives and inspire their people with their integrity. Their membership in the boys club is loose.

But not everyone succeeds. Clericalism is contagious, breeding a kind of mentality that revels in ecclesiastical ambition, status and power. For some, especially those attracted to the episcopacy, it often leads to indifference toward the experiences and needs of ordinary Catholics. It encourages the creation (or repetition) of teachings and regulations worked out in ivory-tower isolation from the real world.

Pope Francis writes in his August 20, 2018 letter:

It is always helpful to remember that “in salvation history, the Lord saved one people. We are never completely ourselves unless we belong to a people. That is why no one is saved alone, as an isolated individual. Rather, God draws us to himself, taking into account the complex fabric of interpersonal relationships present in the human community. God wanted to enter into the life and history of a people” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 6). Consequently, the only way that we have to respond to this evil that has darkened so many lives is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God.

This awareness of being part of a people and a shared history will enable us to acknowledge our past sins and mistakes with a penitential openness that can allow us to be renewed from within. Without the active participation of all the Church’s members, everything being done to uproot the culture of abuse in our communities will not be successful in generating the necessary dynamics for sound and realistic change.

The penitential dimension of fasting and prayer will help us as God’s People to come before the Lord and our wounded brothers and sisters as sinners imploring forgiveness and the grace of shame and conversion. In this way, we will come up with actions that can generate resources attuned to the Gospel. For “whenever we make the effort to return to the source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world” (Evangelii Gaudium, 11).

Notice the emphasis Pope Francis puts on the acknowledgment of sin and the need for forgiveness.  He emphasizes how important it is that we not be divided, but that we be one people.  There should never be a division between the clergy and the people.  We are all in this together.  Pope Francis tells us that we cannot overcome the evil in the Church unless and until we believe this and act on it.

Back to Mr. McClory's article:

And now comes Francis.

It will not take him long to recognize the extent of clericalism rampant in the Curia and to realize how it corrupts the church and strangles the Holy Spirit. Even before he arrived for the election, he was undoubtedly aware of clericalism and its effects in other countries. I want to believe he is laying down a kind of platform to reconnect the church of this era to the Spirit that inspired the early Christians and authentic leaders, like Francis of Assisi, to both proclaim the gospel and live it.

Now we understand why Jorge Bergoglio took the name of Francis.  He wanted to be as simple as St. Francis was, as real and transparent, living only for Jesus, not caring about outward appearances, but only in serving and loving Our Lord and His Church.  Pope Francis is the anti-clericalism pope because he realizes that clericalism is the mortal enemy of the Church and will destroy everything in its path.

One who protests most loudly against the accusation of clericalism is the poster boy himself:  Father John Zuhlsdorf.  Zuhlsdorf is an ordained priest who does not reside in any church or in any religious community. I am really not quite sure who he answers to.  His sole responsibility seems to be his blog.  That is his ministry.  He does belong to the Tridentine Society in Madison, Wisconsin and says Sunday Mass.  I assume he also hears confessions from time to time and does baptisms.  I don't remember him ever saying he has performed a marriage.

He has no responsibility to say daily Mass, counsel troubled parishioners, visit sick parishioners, or assist in any way in the day-to-day running of a parish.  He lives in a house by himself and is supported by those who read his blog. He travels around the world constantly.  He eats at the finest restaurants, about which he openly brags, sharing the pictures of his meals.  He spends time visiting museums.  All of this is paid for through the money he makes on his blog and donations from his readers.

These were his New Year's Resolutions for 2014.

Fr Z’s 2014 New Year Resolutions

1) Do even more to support the advancement of Summorum Pontificum.
2) Drink (sell) even more Mystic Monk Coffee.
3) Post even more on my blog.
4) Practice even more at the shooting range.
5) Offer even more of my services as a preacher and lecturer.
6) Read even more good books.
7) Travel even more to the UK and Rome.
8) Exercise even more.
9) Pray even more for my benefactors.
10) Cause even more “chaos” … as Pope Francis asked me to. ¡Hagan lío!As a corollary to #4 I am going to build an AR-15 from scratch.

Other than "praying even more for his benefactors (hint, hint - if you want me to pray for you, send me money)" I don't see anything about prayer or growing spiritually.  Nothing about overcoming any bad habits, growing closer to Jesus Christ.  The saddest part is, he was actually proud of this list.  And of course, his readers applauded him loudly.

Father Zuhlsdorf  shamelessly begs for money on his blog on a regular basis.  He has not one but three Amazon wish lists which are prominently linked to on his blog.  People buy things for him from these lists on a regular basis.

Some things on his wish list:  a finder for his gun, $359.00 (1 of 2 listed); rifle case $237.89; table cloth, $72.69; ham radio battery, $39.99; Amazon gift cards in vary amounts from $500 to $25 (so he can regift?); traveling chalice and bowl set $385.00; Two way digital radio $139.99; Mahogany base for a clock $76.99; Espresso machine $549.98 (1 of at least 2 espresso machines listed); Apple TV 4K. $179.00.  The list keeps going.  To say that Pope Francis would be appalled is to put it mildly.

We won't even go into his Kindle and Audio wishlists.

Then there is the way that Zuhlsdorf treats his readers.  I speak from personal experience here.  I was actually banned from his blog, and not just from commenting.  He banned me from even viewing his blog.  All I would get when I called up his blog was a window that said "Banned!"  Why?  Because I dared to correct him when he erroneously stated that the Ordinary Form and Extraordinary Form of the Mass are not two different forms but two different rites.  As I pointed out, Pope Benedict expressly said that the two forms should never be referred to as two separate rites.  Bam!  I was thrown off his blog.

Zuhsldorf is very outspoken in that he considers the Traditional Latin Mass to be the salvation not just of the Church, but of the whole world.  He has little use for the "Novus Ordo Mass."  He considers it banal (his exact word).

Zuhlsdorf pre-approves all those who comment on his blog.  You must send in a request for permission to comment.  If he likes you, he will allow you to comment.  But he reserves the right to ban you without notice, any time he may have a hissy fit, as I learned from experience.

He speaks with the authority of a theologian, which he is not.  He never finished his degree in theology.  He regularly writes against other priests and bishops, and dispatches anyone he disagrees with through insult and snarky comments.  As an example, he calls the National Catholic Reporter "Fishwrap."  He never hides his disdain for those with whom he disagrees.

In summary, John Zuhsldorf is an elitist in the first degree.  He is the poster boy for clericalism.

So what did Zuhlsdorf have to say about the cause of the crisis in the Church?  From a post entitled, "Food for my cerebellum. Food for my reptilian brain stem. And my observation about coverage of The Present Crisis":

One prominent cleric wonk spun it all as a problem of… wait for it… clericalism.   Alas, I also think the Pope’s writers did the same.  They are spinning, spinning, spinning the story away from the absolutely key and central component of the self-perpetuating, powerful homosexual subculture in the Church and back toward “the children”.   We have failed to protect and we must protect “the little ones”.

Respectfully to some, and less perhaps to some others, I say, “No.”

It’s not about “the children”. It is also about “the children… the little ones”.Have we already forgotten L’Affaire McCarrick?  He is the embodiment of the story, because he started to work on real children, but he also did his vile number on young men and grown men.  MOSTLY.  From a position of clerical authority, to be sure.  Yes, it was clerical in that he was a cleric of increasing authority.  BUT… this is a homosexuality problem.  It isn’t only about children.

The thought that elitist priests could be a cause of anything bad happening in the Church is completely absurd to the elitist Fr. Zuhlsdorf. And do you notice how he gets around directly attacking the Pope? He critcizes "the Pope's writers".

As Pope Francis said in his letter, he feels there is a real need for prayer and fasting to combat the evil in the Church. What did Zuhlsdorf do?

I unplugged.  This is me, still trying to unplug!

I nixed the cellular service on my phone and went out with my friends into the gray and rainy Windy City.

It seems Zuhsldorf drove from his home in Madison to Chicago, not a small distance.  He then drove around Chicago for a while, and finally to some fine restaurants with his friends, sharing pictures of his meal on his blog.  After dining with friends, he went to an art museum in Chicago.

This is how Father Zuhlsdorf does reparations for the Church.

I am singling out John Zuhlsdorf because he truly is the embodiment of clericalism.  As far as I know, he has never engaged in scandalous behavior such as we have seen with abusive priests, but I personally find his way of life, living on his own and basically doing his own thing, and his harsh treatment of his "enemies" to be very scandalous. You can never accuse Father Z of getting the smell of the sheep on him.

This is exactly what Pope Francis has been fighting against for his entire papacy.  We have a long, long way to go, but at least we are starting.